The School of English Murder (23 page)

‘Oh, I’ve usually only got the one bottle. But of course we had to have a wake for that poor fellow, so I sent someone off to get supplies.’

‘Not, I suppose, that he’d approve of our drinking in his honour,’ said a fat MP whom Milton and Pooley had interviewed earlier that evening.

‘You’re wrong there, Gervaise, old boy,’ said Mick. ‘Robert there told me he wasn’t one of your strict Arabs. Great lad for the wine and the women, apparently. Sure, God help him, I’m glad he had a bit of fun out of life while he had the chance.’

‘I know it’s
de mortuis nil nisi bonum
and all that, Mick,’ said a moustachioed old man, ‘but I heard a bit about him from one of the girls, and he seems to have been a total sex-maniac.’

‘I suppose there’s worse kinds of maniacs.’ Milton was intrigued by the extent of Mick’s charitableness. Was it drink or death, he wondered?

‘He was a handsome devil,’ observed Gervaise. ‘Wouldn’t be surprised if women went for him.’

‘Handsome is as handsome does,’ said the moustachioed man. ‘That squint didn’t add to his attractions.’

‘I never saw him close enough to see a squint. Remember I only arrived this morning. But I saw him in the woods when I went for a walk. And I must say, he’d that kind of lithe grace women go for. You know — animal attraction and all that guff.’

‘How did you know it was him?’ Milton sounded casual.

‘Because he was an Arab, of course. There aren’t any others around Marriners, are there?’

‘Unless the Ayatollah sent someone to get him,“ observed the man with the moustache and they all fell into slightly drunken sniggers.

30

«
^
»

‘I’m trying to work out how an outsider could do it,’ said Amiss, ‘but I see almost unsurmountable obstacles.’

‘Yes, I know. Ellis and I chewed them over last night and again this morning for what seemed like hours.’

‘Where is he, anyway?’

‘He’s ferreting around following up a couple of hunches. You know what he’s like.’

‘Trying out the hypothesis that Ahmed committed suicide but swallowed the knife before he died in order to put the blame on me?’

‘Something like that, no doubt.’ They reached the woods and began to stroll along the path that meandered through the centre. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘At least half-human. I think I’ve slept off most of the booze and I’m pretty well over the shock. Mick’s therapy was extremely effective.’

‘He seemed to take it all in his stride.’

‘It’s not surprising: he used to be in the SAS.’

‘An Irishman?’

‘Why not? They’ve been a mainstay of the British army for centuries. Mind you, he steered well clear of involvement in Northern Ireland.’

‘Well, well. That’ll teach me to get as hung up on stereotypes as you. Now, will you take my word for it that it’s almost a hundred per cent certain it was an outsider?’

‘I have to.’

‘And all the staff and students at the school are ruled out. Everyone’s accounted for.’

Amiss reflected. ‘Even Kenneth?’

‘Who?’

‘Gavs’s chap. They had a joint fling with Ahmed, don’t you remember? I’m sure I told you.’

‘You probably did, but I found Ahmed’s sex-life very confusing. I’ll get him checked out, of course, but if we’re going to track down all Ahmed’s bed-partners, we’ll be at it for weeks.’

‘So you don’t want to be reminded of Di?’

‘No. Yes. Who’s Di?’

‘The call-girl he picked up at the picnic. I told her we were going to Marriners.’

‘Oh, God. All right. She might have an Arab pimp.’

They turned off the main pathway and ambled through a large concentration of silver birch. ‘It was here that Gervaise Whatshisname saw the Arab.’

‘But he’s not certain it wasn’t Ahmed.’

‘No. He said the photograph was inconclusive.’

‘You said he used the word “lithe”. No one could have called Ahmed lithe; he lumbered.’

‘Compared to friend Gervaise, Ahmed was lithe. Still, from what you’ve said about Ahmed’s condition yesterday, I really can’t imagine that he took timeout of bed for a brisk walk.’

‘Has anyone else sighted a strange Arab?’

‘I’ve arranged that everyone be in the hall in thirty minutes so I can ask them that. In fact we’d better be heading back there now. I must have a word with Ellis first.’

Both were deep in thought as they walked back through the wood, but as they emerged into the meadow that separated it from the gardens, Amiss saw Pooley in the distance walking swiftly towards them. ‘Look, Jim,’ he said. ‘That’s lithe.’

‘It’s more Ellis doing his imitation of a red setter who’s sniffed a scent.’

‘Ahmed’s was certainly strong enough.’

‘You’re clearly not mourning him much, are you?’

‘No, though I find it hard to shake off the shock of seeing him dead. It seemed somehow much worse that he was naked. Undignified. And I could wish that I hadn’t been so unfriendly toward him during the last few minutes of his life.’

‘Considering the way he treated you, I think your behaviour was beyond reproach. Stop looking for reasons to feel guilty.’

‘Sorry, Jim. My besetting sin. I got a lecture on it this morning from Rachel.’

They met Pooley in the centre of the meadow and he turned and walked with them towards the house. ‘It’s Interpol, sir. They’ve identified him at last.’

‘Took them long enough.’

‘Turns out they didn’t bother until yesterday to check on his fingerprints.’

Milton stopped suddenly. ‘But we sent them those last week!’

Pooley shrugged.

‘Shit! Well, what have they got?’

‘He was a Saudi, but he wasn’t a prince. His name wasn’t Ahmed ibn Mohammed ibn Abdullah; it was Abdullah ibn Mahommed ibn Ahmed and he was wanted at home for murder.’

‘Of whom?’

‘Some criminal associate, it would seem. Interpol say he had a small international reputation as a tenth-rate assassin.’

‘My God,’ said Amiss. ‘He was even too lazy to kill people properly.’

‘Ned Nurse’s murder was quite imaginative,’ pointed out Pooley.

‘Doesn’t fit Ahmed’s mentality. Coshing him on the head, yes. Lacing a drink to cause an accident, no.’

‘There’s a limit to coincidence, Robert,’ said Milton. ‘For the moment we’ve got to proceed on the assumption that the school’s resident assassin did the assassinating, even if it was done in a rather unorthodox way.’

‘And who assassinated the assassin?’

‘Any new developments, Ellis?’

‘Only that I think his french windows were opened from outside. There were no obvious signs, but I managed to do it with a credit card.’

‘So someone tried to get him on Wednesday night?’

‘Could be. And found the bird flown.’

‘I don’t get it,’ said Amiss. ‘Why should anyone kill him the risky way they did, when they could just have waited until the next night and got him in his room?’

‘That it, Ellis?’

‘I did some more checking on timetables. It would have been very difficult for an outsider to get hold of Ahmed’s daily timetable: the only copy was in Mrs Cowley-Bawdon’s office, which was always locked when unoccupied.’

‘Hell.’

‘But every day they pin up, on the notice board in the staff room, the schedule for each treatment centre with the patients’ appointments written in.’ They were approaching the stairs leading up to the front entrance. ‘Now, come with me,’ said Pooley, and he led them round to the back of the building and down a discreet flight of stairs. ‘Here’s the staff common-room.’

‘Well, well,’ said Milton, stepping into the empty room through the open french windows and walking straight to the large notice-board on the right-hand wall. ‘Let’s see. Ah, yes, Turkish bath: 3.00, Van Hattem, Inglis, Dodds, Bell, Guy, Le Druillenec.’ He came out and joined them. ‘Easy.’

‘If you know they’re there,’ said Amiss.

‘I didn’t,’ said Pooley triumphantly. ‘I just snooped round.’

‘There are lots more unanswered questions,’ said Milton, ‘but now it’s time to talk to the assembled masses. Ellis, come with me and stand respectfully behind me when I speak. Robert, trail along slightly behind us now and then join the audience and revert to being a recent acquaintance of mine.’

It had taken Milton half an hour of oozing charm at Mrs Cowley-Bawdon to gain her agreement to calling the meeting. Once she yielded, she proved highly cooperative and exhibited the terrifying efficiency that made Marriners operate so smoothly. As he came through the front door she was standing there with a list. ‘Every member of staff is here, Superintendent, and all the patients except Mr Amiss. Ah, no. I see him now. Come on, Mr Amiss. You’re late. Over there, please.’

Amiss scurried obediently to his place. ‘Now, everybody. Here is Superintendent Milton to talk to you. Please listen carefully. Superintendent. Over to you.’

Milton stood in front of a crowd which he knew must number seventy-five: forty-five patients and thirty staff. He cleared his throat as quietly as he could. ‘Ladies and gentlemen. I shall make this as brief as I can. First, I’d like to thank Mrs Cowley-Bawdon for being so very helpful.’ He looked towards her. ‘She has made every effort to make our job as easy as possible. We greatly appreciate her efficiency and kindness.’ He bowed and she inclined her head slightly in his direction and smiled graciously. Milton was visited by the ignoble thought that such blatant flattery might pay off in the lunch she provided for him and Pooley. The previous night they’d been given nothing but mousetrap cheese and biscuits. ‘The purpose of this meeting is to speed up our inquiries, although I can assure you that we will be very sad to leave this haven of luxurious serenity.’

Amiss stared incredulously at Milton.

‘You have all been seen individually by Sergeant Pooley and me or by other officers. Now I should like you to do something that requires you all to be together. When I’ve finished, I want each of you to spend a few minutes looking at everyone in this room with the object of finding out if anyone you’ve seen at Marriners since Monday is missing — other than the unfortunate gentleman who died yesterday.

‘Now of course you can’t remember everyone you saw, but for one reason or another you might remember noticing someone who you realise is not now present. A gentleman, for instance, might have glimpsed in the distance a Marilyn Monroe look-alike, or a lady might have seen Robert Redford’s twin brother, yet as they look around this room they notice that attractive though their companions are, there is no one who quite fits such a description.’ He paused for the titters to cease. ‘Such a person might have been wearing a white coat, a dressing-gown, a dress, a suit, or if you were in luck, they might have turned up naked in your sauna.’ More titters.

‘That’s it then. Thank you all very much for listening. Any questions? No? Well, in that case, Sergeant Pooley and I will retire to Mrs Cowley-Bawdon’s office, for in her kindness she continues to sacrifice it to us. Please come to us if you think you can help.’

‘What’d you think, Ellis?’ he asked as he unlocked the office door.

‘Slightly on the shameless side, sir.’

Milton laughed. ‘It was, wasn’t it? But in this job you’ve sometimes got to be a populist.’

Gervaise was the first to arrive. ‘Just dropped by to congratulate you. Very neat ploy, that. Means any sightings they come up with will be genuine.’

‘And you haven’t said anything to anyone?’

‘Not a soul. And I’m sure that goes for the others from last night. You put the fear of God into us.’

They heard a knock. ‘OK, I’m off. Good luck to you both. I enjoyed our discussion last night. And I lay you ten to one more ladies than men will have noticed the Arab.’

Amiss bolted his lunch and sneaked off to join Milton and Pooley in their office. ‘Greedy sods,’ he said indignantly, looking at the debris. ‘Where did all that come from? A take-away from the Savoy?’

Milton pushed away his plate. ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about. All we’ve had is a little asparagus, a simple steak, some salad which I expect is no better than what you’ve had, along with really rather delicious new potatoes and a most acceptable sweet omelette.’

‘Not a patch on the Yard canteen,’ said Pooley, polishing off the last morsel of the omelette.

‘Indeed not,’ said Milton, sipping a little burgundy. ‘I’d much rather have joined you on the light diet, but I didn’t want to hurt Mrs Cowley-Bawdon’s feelings.’

‘Give me some of that,’ demanded Amiss savagely. He grabbed the bottle and Milton’s empty water glass and filled it to the brim.

‘Be our guest, my dear Robert.’

Amiss took a healthy swig. ‘Christ! I thought I was supposed to be the tart around here.’

‘You’re only a newcomer. I’ve been at it for years.’

Amiss took a sip this time and put his feet up on the desk. ‘OK. What gives?’

Milton became a policeman again. ‘Eight women spotted a nice-looking Arab.’

‘Who wasn’t Ahmed.’

‘Yes. They all said he wasn’t Ahmed.’

‘Men?’

‘Four saw an Arab who wasn’t Ahmed: two thought he was good-looking.’

‘So presumably there may be lots of them who saw an Arab who wasn’t Ahmed and think he must have been Ahmed and therefore haven’t come to tell you about him.’

‘Yes. Now that we’ve established that there really was a strange Arab, Ellis can do a quick run-around with Ahmed’s photo and see if any more who thought they saw him in fact saw the other one, if you follow me.’

‘Have you got good descriptions of the unknown Arab?’

Milton helped himself to seconds from the silver coffee pot. ‘No, not really. Same colouring as Ahmed, good teeth, slim, dressed unobtrusively. He didn’t hang around at all. No one ever saw him for more than half a minute.’

‘And was he seen anywhere incriminating?’

‘He certainly was.’ Milton swallowed another mouthful. ‘He was sighted yesterday at about three thirty taking off from the car-park on a motor bike.’

‘Sounds pretty conclusive.’

‘It does,’ said Pooley. ‘Now all we’ve got to find out is why Ahmed killed Nurse, if he did; if he was working for someone and if so who; why and from whom he got death threats; who killed him; were they working for someone else; where the missing Arab is; and a lot of other things I can’t think of at the moment.’